In Another Life

Thirteen

A/N: I was supposed to finish this chapter on Tuesday because I was going to be busy the rest of the week but I ended up getting distracted... I'm sure you can all guess by what lol. But anyways, I thought I'd warn y'all that there's only about four or five chapters left after this one :( I'm going to miss this fic so much when it's over.

"And in first place, advancing to the ICCA finals in New York City, we have... USC'S CalTones!"

Screams erupted from around Mitch in every direction the second the words left the emcee's lips; everyone jumping around and hugging each other.

Meanwhile Mitch stood completely silent, his only movement being his mouth falling open in shock.

He'd been so convinced that he had totally fucked up their shot at winning. He thought there was absolutely no way they'd be going to New York.

But they did it. They made it to finals.

Mitch's daze was broken by the feeling of Scott's arms suddenly engulfing him in a bone-crushing hug. "We won!" he shouted in his ear, his voice full of sheer joy.

Somehow Scott's words finally made it sink in for him.

They really won.

"Oh my god," Mitch said flatly. A grin slowly spread onto his face. "Oh my god," he repeated, his voice raising in pitch as the excitement hit him. "We actually did it?"

"We did it," Scott confirmed with a laugh, rocking him back and forth. "I knew it. I knew we could," he gushed.

He pulled back from Mitch and stared down into his eyes for a few long seconds before leaving him completely to go hug someone else.

Mitch didn't have much time to mourn the end of their hug however, as he soon found himself being wrapped up in Jasmine's arms instead, followed by Quinn's and then several other members of the group, each and every one of them congratulating him.

Mitch felt a huge weight being lifted off his shoulders.

He hadn't ruined their chances at finals or his friendship with the group members.

When they were all finally calm enough they crossed the stage to accept their award from the emcee. Lucas and Jasmine held it up in the air and they all cheered again before leaving the stage together.

"We're going to New York!" Jasmine screamed as they made it backstage, the girl starting to pull people in for a group hug.

Scott pulled Mitch over to join right away and Mitch didn't hesitate to squeeze in next to him, his heart feeling full.

Mitch wouldn't lie – the day had been absolute hell for him. And things still weren't perfect even now, especially considering the fact that the two people who had made his day hell were both standing across from him in the hug.

But that didn't matter. For right now he felt happy.

Sure, that feeling would most likely be a fleeting one. But he was definitely going to enjoy the pure pride and joy he had for his group while it lasted.

—

"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to fly to LA and actually slaughter him."

"That's really not necessary, Kirst. I'm pretty sure Scott already scared the shit out of him, I doubt he's ever going to try to talk to me again."

Four days had passed since semifinals. As Mitch as had expected, the joy he'd felt from the group winning was in fact temporary.

He certainly felt less miserable than he had a few days ago, but that wasn't exactly saying much.